May Day protesters torch a Paris McDonald’s and vehicles, as 200 are arrested and annual worker’s rights march descends into chaos
Around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks shouted slogans such as ‘Everyone hates the police’ as they turned the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for worker’s rights into chaos, police said
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
Nearly 200 protesters were arrested Tuesday after May Day riots in central Paris, where hooded youths torched a McDonald’s restaurant and several vehicles during a march against President Emmanuel Macron’s public sector reforms.
Shouting slogans such as “Rise up, Paris” and “Everyone hates the police”, around 1,200 people in black jackets and face masks joined the traditional May 1 union-led demonstration for worker’s rights, according to a count by Paris police.
After trying to hold up the march, a group of protesters ran amok along the route, destroying a McDonald’s near Austerlitz station, east of the city centre, and setting it ablaze.
They also burned vehicles at a car dealership, along with a mechanical digger and a scooter, leaving a trail of destruction and plumes of dark smoke billowing into the air.
French art museum discovers half its prized collection is fake
The worst unrest in months in Paris comes at a time of heightened tensions over Macron’s changes in the public sector and follows a showdown between police and anti-capitalist squatters at a sprawling commune in western France.
The police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators.
Around 200 people were arrested, according to a police statement. Three were found in possession of illegal weapons, it said.
The police had warned of the risk of extremist groups using May Day to set up a rematch of the clashes seen during demonstrations last year over Macron’s labour reforms and at an anti-capitalist camp in western France that was demolished by police earlier this month.
“Macron makes us mad,” read a banner held by one masked demonstrator.
Merkel may find Macron a tough act to follow in Washington visit
“We’re tired of this capitalist system that destroys everything and of brutal police repression of all those who oppose it,” said a 19-year-old student who was part of the group.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb condemned the violence.
“Everything is being done to end this serious disturbance to the peace an find those responsible for these unspeakable acts,” he tweeted.
Why Trump and Macron need to talk about China
The scenes of looting and destruction overshadowed the May Day march, which drew between 20,000 and 55,000 peaceful protesters, according to police and union estimates.
Countrywide, around 143,000 people took part in labour marches, according to government estimates, up slightly on 2017.
Trade unions and student unions have been trying to rally the French against Macron’s shake-up of indebted state rail operator SNCF and access to public universities, which they see as part of a rollback of France’s cherished public services.
Polls show the French supporting those changes but being more critical of Macron’s fiscal policy, seen as favouring the wealthy over the working- and middle classes.
“Macron is the president of the rich,” said Genevieve Durand, a retired public servant who took part in a march in the central city of Clermont-Ferrand, echoing a label that has clung to the centrist politician.
Macron, 40, who vowed during campaigning to make France more competitive, has insisted that he will not budge from his course.
“I’m doing what I said I would,” he said during a recent television interview to mark the first anniversary of his election on May 7.
